This place is straight out of a Nancy Drew novel: wood paneling, great wacky original paintings, old-fashioned snow shoes hanging on the walls. The ’50s American nature retreat, still in existence.
Lake of the Woods is between Klamath Falls and Medford just off Highway 140. The original lodge, built in the 1920s, burned and was rebuilt in the 1950s; the store is from 1924 and still operates. The whole place was taken over by new owners about 10 years ago and has been extensively but quite perfectly remodeled to keep its rustic early 20th century flavor.
You can rent cabins here in the summer; prices range from $139 to $289 a night — not cheap! — but what atmosphere!
The restaurant is a bit overpriced but serves decent food and has a great view.
And we bought the most expensive gasoline of our lives here on Saturday — $5.409 a gallon.
Still, it’s beautiful.
If you find yourself staying in Klamath Falls — a city with not a lot else to recommend it, except for the incredible high desert countryside that surrounds it — check out the Best Western Olympic Inn, which sits at the corner of Washburn Way and South Sixth Street.
Though it’s unremarkable on the outside, and located in a hellishly ugly fast-food suburb (across the street is Burger King and Office Depot), you’ll be pleasantly shocked when you enter the pine-paneled lobby, which is chock full of hunting and fishing lodge taxidermy: a wolf, a mountain goat, a black bear, even a cougar. Overstuffed leather chairs and sofas make this a place to linger and read a magazine.
Better yet: The free breakfast (6 a.m. to 10 a.m. in the lobby) includes biscuits and gravy.
Best of all: Every night at 8 p.m. the staff serves milk and cookies in the lobby. Not just cookies but fresh-baked cookies, whose aroma fills the building, tempting even the abstemious.
All rooms are non-smoking.
A little spendy at $150 a night for a room with two queens, but entirely worth it for the atmosphere.
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